Ned-allsky

Astrophysical Parameters and Habitable Zone of the Exoplanet Hosting Star GJ 581

March 2011 • 2011ApJ...729L..26V

Authors • von Braun, Kaspar • Boyajian, Tabetha S. • Kane, Stephen R. • van Belle, Gerard T. • Ciardi, David R. • López-Morales, Mercedes • McAlister, Harold A. • Henry, Todd J. • Jao, Wei-Chun • Riedel, Adric R. • Subasavage, John P. • Schaefer, Gail • ten Brummelaar, Theo A. • Ridgway, Stephen • Sturmann, Laszlo • Sturmann, Judit • Mazingue, Jude • Turner, Nils H. • Farrington, Chris • Goldfinger, P. J. • Boden, Andrew F.

Abstract • GJ 581 is an M dwarf host of a multiplanet system. We use long-baseline interferometric measurements from the CHARA Array, coupled with trigonometric parallax information, to directly determine its physical radius to be 0.299 ± 0.010 R sun. Literature photometry data are used to perform spectral energy distribution fitting in order to determine GJ 581's effective surface temperature T EFF = 3498 ± 56 K and its luminosity L = 0.01205 ± 0.00024 L sun. From these measurements, we recompute the location and extent of the system's habitable zone and conclude that two of the planets orbiting GJ 581, planets d and g, spend all or part of their orbit within or just on the edge of the habitable zone.

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David Ciardi

Senior Scientist